Generally speaking, this invention relates to needle shields for protecting the user of a needle from needle stick. More particularly, this invention relates to needle shields of the kind used with medical applications so that the shield moves in place for protecting the user from needle stick and potential contamination from a used needle.
A great many new devices have been developed in recent years because of the advent of the AIDS virus and the spread thereof by contaminated needles. These developments include a simplified arrangement such as those taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,623,336 and 4,654,,034 in the form of a flared shield for insertion of a contaminated needle therein. The arrangements include the flared open end so that the user is protected during insertion of the contaminated needle into the shield. Other devices of this kind include U.S. Pat. No. 4,650,468 and the arrangement taught in European Patent Publication No, 0160849. All of these arrangements include some sort of flared or wide-mouth front end for insertion of the contaminated needle so that the user has a larger mark for insertion of contaminated needle in the shield.
An additional arrangement of device of the kind to which this invention is directed is taught in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,629,453 and 4,634,428, both teaching involved arrangements for protective caps for used and contaminated needles. An additional arrangement for a closure system for storing hypodermic needles and for the transport and disposal thereof is taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,722. That patent includes a side opening for dropping the entire contaminated needle into the container rather than inserting it through one end of the container.
Finally, U.S. Pat. No. 4,659,330 includes a mounting arrangement for mounting on a syringe body with the device including a hinge connection for swinging a needle shield into place over a contaminated needle once it has been used.
By contrast, with the invention here, a simplified arrangement of needle shield is provided with a press-fit mounting which may be secured to the needle hub of either a syringe barrel or a blood sample needle holder for taking blood samples. The arrangement herein may be frictionally positioned and press fitted onto such a hub. When so positioned, the arrangement herein moves into place automatically for shielding the needle prior to use, and at all other times except during the time when the needle is actually inserted into a patient.
The arrangement here includes a flexible elongated integral device which extends over and along the needle top and both sides thereof with a hood shield at one end for extending over the point of the needle. An additional important feature is that it may be utilized with one hand, leaving one hand free for other functions.
Thus, when the user wishes to insert the needle through a patient's skin, the blunt hood shield at the front end is pressed against the skin of a patient and the needle inserted into the patient for administering a medication, or for removing a blood sample for examination. Immediately after removal of the needle from the patient's skin, the shield of the invention moves automatically, with no manipulation required by the user, back into place over the point of the needle so that the user is immediately and automatically protected from any kind of accidental needle prick. The used needle, therefore, may be readily moved to a disposal container for removing the needle and the shield of the invention by dropping them into the container, while the point of the needle is maintained in a protected shielded manner.
As a further feature of the invention, the needle shield assembly of the invention includes a frictional locking arrangement which the user may utilize for pressing the shield of the invention over the needle for holding the shield firmly in place over the needle when it is not being used, before or after contamination.
Finally, the simple arrangement of needle shield taught herein may be comprised of an inexpensive single piece of flexible plastic produced on a mass production basis, making it inexpensive for single use applications.
Other objects and advantages of this invention will be apparent from the following description, the accompanying drawings and the appended claims.